Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The day many undoubtedly believed would never arrived is
finally here! The sequel to the original Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted
Halls is available for purchase via Lulu in both hardcopy and PDF.

Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell is the
long-awaited sequel to Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls. This book
contains the final five dangerous levels of the titanic megadungeon, revealing
Stonehell’s most terrifying secrets. Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell
contains almost 600 dungeon rooms filled with monsters, traps, and treasure for
the players to explore, more than 70 unique monsters to challenge them, and 13
new magical items to mystify them. This book also contains complete information
on the dungeon’s sinister master, the nixthisis, and full details on the
mysterious chthonic substance known as Vaedium.

Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell is part of the
Stonehell Dungeon series of adventures detailing a classic-style megadungeon
intended for use with the Labyrinth Lord™ role-playing game, but easily
adaptable to most early versions of the original fantasy role-playing game and
its retro-clones. Stonehell Dungeon gives the game master all the necessary
information to run his players through the dungeon, while offering enormous
opportunities to customize and expand on the site.

This is not a stand-alone product. Stonehell Dungeon: Down
Night-Haunted Halls is required to get the full use out of this adventure
supplement.

Truth in Advertising Disclaimer: There are less than a dozen
instances in the printed version of this supplement where the numeral “7” is
distorted due to Lulu’s printing methods. Despite numerous efforts to resolve
the issue, it persists. The distortion doesn’t affect the usability of the supplement,
but if this minor glitch might impact your enjoyment of the book, please
consider purchasing the PDF edition.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

On Fourth of July weekend, I’ll be heading across the mighty Hudson River
to the hinterlands of Northern New Jersey for DEXCON, specifically to take
part in OSWARP (Old School Wargames and Role-Playing) mini-convention. It will
be playtests galore as I bring the first two parts of The Four Phantasmagorias DCC RPG adventure series to the table, and
the second playtest of my upcoming METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA adventure. Event
registration is now live, so if you’re in the tri-state area and looking for
some Old-School gaming (and are free Fourth of July weekend), consider coming
on down.

In addition to my own humble presence with DCC RPG and MA, old-school games
such as D6 Star Wars, classic Traveller, Swords & Wizardry, Stars Without
Number, OD&D, AD&D, Adventures Dark & Deep, Call of Cthulhu, and
Champions are on tap, as are a bevy of new school games and classic wargames. I’m
still hashing out the details of my weekend, but I’ll certainly be around for
Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday.

Here’s the scoop on what I’m running:

R0235:
Dungeon Crawl Classics; "The First Phantasmagoria" presented by
Michael Curtis. An OLD SCHOOL Game - Part of the OSWARP Mini-Convention at
DEXCON 17! Strange symbols appear on you flesh and the most learned minds in
the realm cannot fathom why. Perhaps those eldritch priests who serve the Great
Dreaming God, Cthulhu, can help decipher them. What could possibly go wrong
there? "The First Phantasmagoria" is the beginning adventure in a
multi-part adventure saga from Goodman Games.Thursday, 8:00PM - 12:00AM; One Round; All Materials Provided. Beginners Welcome; Fun,
All Ages.

R0269:
METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA (1976); "Level of the Lost" presented by Michael
Curtis. An OLD SCHOOL Game - Part of the OSWARP Mini-Convention at DEXCON 17! A
formerly sealed section of the Warden has been opened and rumor has it that one
of the fable command rings awaits beyond the entrance. Does your band of
explorers have what it takes to overcome the hazards of the Level of the Lost
and emerge with this potent artifact? This adventure is highly dangerous, but
highly fun!Friday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; One Round; All Materials Provided. Beginners Welcome; Fun,
All Ages.

R0288:
Dungeon Crawl Classics; "The Second Phantasmagoria" presented by
Michael Curtis. An OLD SCHOOL Game - Part of the OSWARP Mini-Convention at
DEXCON 17! Venture back to the Drowse to enter the Forest of Childish Delights.
Inside lies another part of your quest for the Four Phantasmagorias. But things
(and people) turn weird once they cross the verge of the woods, so be forewarned.
This may make overcoming the eclectic collection of enemies birthed from
bloodstained fairy tales a tad difficult to overcome. "The Second
Phantasmagoria" is the second adventure in a multi-part adventure saga
from Goodman Games.Friday, 8:00PM - 12:00AM; One Round; All Materials Provided. Beginners Welcome; Fun,
All Ages.

Hope to see some familiar
faces (I know I will just looking at the folks who are running games) and to
meet new gamers. Feel free to bring stuff for me to deface if you want my
scrawl on something. Depending on my final schedule, I may actually play something
this time around, too.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

There is a Kickstarter currently
underway for my forthcoming DCC RPG adventure DCC
#83 The Chained Coffin. Why is Goodman Games conducting a Kickstarter
rather than simply publishing the adventure as they’ve done eighty-two times
before? Good question.

It began with a little puzzle lock
idea I included in the original manuscript. An ancient and long-sealed door
bears a combination lock puzzle that needs bypassing in order to get through
the mighty valve. My initial plan was to have the puzzle illustrated in three
pictures that could be printed out or photocopied, and then the judge would
assemble the wheel by hand to give to the players to monkey with. Joseph
Goodman thought we could go one better and inquired with the printers whether
it was possible to create such an item and have it included with the adventure.
It was, but it would take a little doing, and thus the Chained Coffin
Kickstarter campaign was launched.

That was the humble beginning of a
project that is now dreaming big dreams and asking the DCC fans for help
achieving that objective. Joseph and I discussed various stretch goals to help
drive the Kickstarter, and I admitted that I had a lot of stories waiting to be
told in the Shudder Mountains, that fantasy Appalachia analog inspired by the
works of Appendix N author, Manly Wade Wellman. I originally told Joseph that
if the adventure proved popular, I’d like to revisit the setting again in a
sequel. If all goes well, I might not have to wait that long.

It has come to pass that The Chained Coffin may be destined for
greater things that a simple 32 pp. adventure. If the fans desire it, The Chained Coffin could become a
mini-campaign boxed set, one that includes a large 11”x17” regional map, a
gazetteer describing the Shudder Mountains, and, in addition to The Chained Coffin adventure, a pair of
secondary adventures designed to begin play in the region as zero-level PCs and
to encounter later in their adventuring careers.

Needless to say, if this “campaign
in a box” idea becomes a reality and is well-received by the fans, it may begin
a new trend with DCC RPG. People have been clamoring for an official DCC RPG
campaign world (whether a new one or a revised version of Aereth, Goodman’s
original campaign world for the 3E DCC adventures) and this could be the first
of several steps to make that happen.

DCC RPG encourages judges to
abandon the notion that the campaign world needs to be a vast, sprawling
expanse filled with countless cities and diverse ecospheres. Instead, DCC RPG
suggests taking a smaller approach and limiting the campaign to a compact
region, like a duchy, a minor stretch of wilderness, or even a single valley.
The Shudder Mountains are precisely this style of world design: a finite area
filled with enough adventuring ideas, unusual locals, and unique critters to
meet the needs of long-term play.

A series of “campaign boxes” would
allow judges to pick and choose what they want to include in their campaign
worlds, rather than be given the full world treatment common to most
pre-packaged fantasy campaigns. To continue with an Appalachian-themed
metaphor, you’d get the patches to make the quilt rather than the whole
blanket, and could assemble them using only the squares of color that catch
your interest. Not into Egyptian-themed adventuring regions? Then there’s no
need to spend the buy that campaign module (although if I wrote that one, I
hope you would anyway). Love the idea of sword-and-planet type adventures? Pick
up the hypothetical “Perils of the Purple Planet” themed set. And so on down
the line.

This way, the folks who want a
sense of a shared campaign world could have one—if they so desired—while the
maniacal homebrewed campaign designer could pick and choose, utilizing material
from the sets that captured their interest whole cloth or just the portions
they liked. It’s an interesting concept and I believe it would be useful to
game masters of not just DCC RPG, but other fantasy games as well.

As it stands now, The
Chained Coffin Kickstarter needs to meet a goal of $36,000 dollars to make
the boxed set a reality. But even if it fails to hit that mark in the
two-weeks-and-change remaining, there’s still a plethora of goodies already
funded. As of this morning, a $30 pledge entitles you to:

1) DCC RPG #83 The Chained Coffin with a special silver foil cover.

2) A stand-alone spinning wheel
puzzle dial along with five other ways to utilize the device in your campaign
beyond the original door lock.

3) Additional source material
including a patron write-up for “Ol’ Blackcloak,” a powerful entity encountered
in the adventure.

10) The Almanac of the Shudder
Mountains (working title) that compiles the additional background material into
a single, digest-sized supplement for ease of reference during play. The
Almanac includes several new monsters waiting to meet the players.

Still awaiting funding are:

11) $18,000:The Almanac will be expanded to include Magic of the
Shudder Mountains.

12) $20,000:The Almanac will be upgraded to 24 pages of normal letter-sized
pages, and will be expanded to include even more gazetteer material.

13) $25,000:We'll add in another mini-adventure in the Shudder Mountains
that fills the gap between your level 0 characters and the level 5 Chained
Coffin module.

14) $30,000:The Almanac will be expanded with another 8 pages of gazetteer
material further expanding the Shudder Mountain region.

16) $36,000:We'll print a full-color box to hold it all! The Shudder
Mountains gazetteer and adventure path will be complete. This two-part box
(i.e., complete with "box and lid," both in color) will hold your
copy of the module, the Almanac, the poster map, and the bonus mini-adventure.
With some room to spare!

I’m immensely proud
of the work I’ve done with the Shudder Mountains. You can hear me gush about
the project a bit on the latest
Spellburn podcast (note that the stretch goal tiers have been reduced in
cost since that episode was recorded—you get an even better deal for your money!).
It’s not every day one gets the play in a world inspired by the evocative works
of Manly Wade Wellman and transform 1950s Appalachia into a fantasy setting. I
summed up the experience and The Chained
Coffin itself in a piece I penned for last year’s Goodman Games Gen Con
program:

One of the great joys of writing DCC RPG adventures comes from the
game’s commitment to remaining true to the classic pulp-era fantasy and
science-fiction stories that inspired fantasy roleplaying, the so-called “Appendix
N” tales. And while “sword & sorcery” yarns comprise the lion’s share of
Appendix N, they are not the only types of stories found within it. The Chained
Coffin derives its inspiration from American folklore, as perceived through the
atmospheric works of Manly Wade Wellman. You’ll find no kobolds and orcs in The
Chained Coffin, but plenty of restless ghosts, shunned witches and conjure-men,
and devils willing to make a deal at midnight, all set against a backdrop of
superstition-filled mountains and secluded hollows where the still air smells
of pine trees. Heady stuff, indeed, and a far cry from your traditional fantasy
RPG fare.

The Chained Coffin stands as my favorite DCC RPG adventure to
date. The opportunity to create and then dwell for a time within a region more
at home in the eons-old Appalachian Mountains than the fantastical landscapes
of Tolkien, Howard, Moorcock, and Leiber was a designer’s dream. Hopefully, my
personal enjoyment will be shared by you, the judge and player. So gather ‘round
the fire, friends, pass the jug this way, and bend an ear to the music of the
mountains. There are both horrors and wonders waiting in the Deep Hollows and,
if you listen close at midnight, you might just hear a tune or two played on a
lonesome fiddle strung with silver strings…

I’m looking forward
to the opportunity to expand on the material I’ve already conjured up.
Hopefully, if share an interest and want to be part of it, we’ll make the boxed
set a reality. Please share this post or the Kickstarter page with similar
like-minded folk if you would. I’d be most appreciative if you help me turn the
Shudder Mountains into a place that spawns a hundred new DCC RPG campaigns. I’ll
sign off now and let you go take
a gander at the Kickstarter and weigh your decision. But before you depart,
allow Leadbelly to put you in the appropriate state of mind:

Saturday, May 3, 2014

I've been keeping the masses informed about the progress of the Stonehell Dungeon sequel over on the books' Facebook and Google+ pages, but new milestones have been reached. I thought I'd share that report here, along with a preview of the cover art and links to other associated projects.

Stonehell Two Status Report (5.3.14)

I’m extremely pleased to break the month-long silence with
news that all the last elements of the book are coming together. As predicted,
I didn’t have much to report as the book’s progress relied on other people’s
contributions and wasn’t directly in my hands. It amazing how things move
forward when I’m not the one responsible for pushing the project along. This
report brings us two big pieces of news: the finalization of the sequel’s cover
art and the edited manuscript back in hand.

J.A. D’Andrea, who did the cover of the first Stonehell
book, is providing the cover art for the sequel. I’m always greatly impressed
by J.A.’s work, but his piece for the sequel really struck a chord. He did a magnificent
job of expressing the depths of Stonehell Dungeon and the strange mentality
that accompanies those who tread its halls. I’m proud to feature this one on
the cover, not only because it’s good, but because having J.A.’s work reappear
makes a nice book-end for the Stonehell series. Other pieces of art are also
trickling in, meaning that I’ll soon have all the components needed to push on
to final layout.

I have also received the edited manuscript back from the
outside editor. I’m happy to report that my own three passes over the draft
were not in vain and that the editor found only minor corrections that need to
be implemented. This was a great relief, as my mind always suspects the worse
when I send things off for others to review. However, in this case at least,
the worry was unfounded.

Here’s what remains to be done on the punch list:

1) Implement the minor changes required by the manuscript.

2) Collect the last stray pieces of art.

3) Finalize the layout by adding the art, tweaking the
format, and including the various legalese, index, credits, and “special thanks
to” sections.

4) Compose the cover.

5) Get a printer’s proof made and review it.

6) Make any final changes required by the proof.

7) Publication.

As you can see, there’s still a little work to be done, but
we’re heading into the last mile of the journey. Unfortunately, and you knew
there had to be an “unfortunately” if you’ve been following this project, I’m
running into a time crunch. The success of the Metamorphosis
Alpha Kickstarter left me with a few pressing projects that need completion
ASAP. I need to get these off my plate before I can attend to the sequel. I
also have North Texas RPG Con in a month and
must complete the last adventure that needs writing before I get on the plane
for Dallas (space remains in at least two of my games if you’re interested). I’d
hoped to be able to debut Stonehell 2 at North Texas, but, barring a miracle of
time and effort, I doubt this will occur. Rest assured, I’m eager to complete
Stonehell 2 and bid a fond farewell to the project. I’ll continue to push ahead
when I can and I’ll keep you informed of my progress.

Once again, I thank you for your patience, but know that we’re
almost there. In the meantime, I ask anyone who enjoys my work to check out the
latest Goodman Games’ Kickstarter
for The Chained Coffin, a new adventure penned by me that centers on a hexcrawl
through a “fantasy Appalachia” as inspired by the work of Manly Wade Wellman.
The Chained Coffin is one of my favorite works to date and I think it
demonstrates admirably the goal of DCC RPG going back to the source material of
the hobby and doing new and interesting things with the Appendix N material.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

You may have heard the news already, but I’ve yet to chime
in on the latest announcement by Goodman
Games that emerged from the chaos of Gary
Con VI. Yes, it’s true: the original METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA rules as written
by James. M. Ward is being re-released in a deluxe
collector’s edition!

Late last year, I started receiving some very cryptic emails
from Joseph Goodman inquiring about my familiarity with METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA. I
knew the game, and had the uncommon honor of adventuring aboard the Warden
three times under Jim Ward’s mastery without the loss of life or limb. I was
hoping these email were leading in the direction they seemed to be going, and,
sure enough, once the legalities and contracts were obtained, I got the invite
to climb aboard the doomed Warden for another go-around.

For those of you unfamiliar with METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA, it is
the original science-fiction roleplaying game released by TSR back in 1976. You
play the role of a primitive tribesman aboard the generational starship, the
Warden, bound for a distant star. Generations ago, catastrophe struck the
Warden, killing a large percentage of the crew and colonists, and mutating many
of the survivors. Over time, those left alive on the Warden forgot their
original mission and plunged into a state of barbarism. The decline of
civilization was so thorough that the survivors forgot they were aboard a
starship, and developed tribal communities in self-contained levels of the ship
that defined their entire world.

As a player character, you begin the game in these small
enclosed worlds but eventually discover the truth of your predicament, acquiring
knowledge of the Warden and learning to use many of the weird artifacts
(lasers, vibro blades, Geiger counters, etc.) left behind by the original crew.
If you survive long enough (a difficult task given the hostility of the mutated
creatures that prowl the ship and the lethality of radiation still lingering in
places), you may eventually gain control of the ship and perhaps even guide it
to safety on a new world.

Although METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA didn’t have a long printing
life during the TSR days, the game, unlike the PCs who explore the Warden,
proved notoriously hard to kill. METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA is the urtext for GAMMA
WORLD, and many of the mutations, mutants, and technology found in that first
post-apocalyptic roleplaying game first appeared in MA. And like GAMMA WORLD, a
game which has gone through seven or eight editions, METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA
endured beyond its original print run. TSR released a version of the game for
it AMAZING ENGINE system in 1994, Fast Forward Entertainment published a 25th
anniversary edition in 2002, Mudpuppy Games produced the fourth edition in
2006, and there is currently work on a 5th edition of MA by Signal
Fire Games. On top of all this, the original 1976 rulebook is available for
download and print-on-demand
from WardCo.

“So why in the blazes in Goodman Games producing a deluxe collector’s
edition of the original rules?” you might ask. The answer is based on playability,
longevity, and historical importance.

The original rules, as available from WardCo., are identical
to the 1976 TSR release—and that includes the minute font they were printed in.
If you’ve never seen the original rulebook, the type is very small and the
layout is in dual column format. That might have been a good idea in 1976, but
as many gamers get older, their eyes aren’t what they used to be and the tiny
type becomes difficult to decipher. The Goodman Games print run will be an
oversized 10.5” x 14” book, allowing the original rules to be printed at 110%
size. This will alleviate the eyestrain factor.

The Goodman Games version also collects a vast amount of
material released for METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA under a single cover. Magazine
articles about the game, James M. Ward’s short story, “Footprints in the Sky,”
a new introductory adventure, special advice essays written especially for the
deluxe edition, and other useful material will all be compiled in the Goodman
Games edition. To ensure this material survives, say exposure to cosmic
radiation (or regular game use), the deluxe edition will utilized high-quality
binding, that used by collegiate text, to keep the book intact for decades to
come. It’s a book you’ll be proud to have as part of your RPG collection, yet
tough enough to actually use at the table.

The collector’s edition release also allows Goodman Games to
provide support for METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA in the form of published adventures,
something that MA has been lacking for many years. Four (and maybe five if the
Kickstarter hits its stretch goals) adventures released by Goodman Games are
planned for METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA in the coming year. The first, The Android Underlords, was available
for purchase at Gary Con VI and was written by yours truly. The opportunity to
contribute even a little bit to the Warden’s long history was a dream come true
for me, and when the creator of the game praised the adventure, it was a fan’s
dream come true. If Jim likes it, you know it’s both good and worthy of bearing
the METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA title on the cover.

Once the Kickstarter funds, there will be another three
adventures produced, one by Jobe Bittman, another by me, and a third by the
captain of the Warden, himself, James M. Ward. Should the Kickstarter hit
$37,000, a fifth adventure, author to be determined, will be published as well.
Even if you decide that the collector’s edition isn’t your cup of tea, you
might consider contributing to the Kickstarter to get the complete run of
adventures, all of which can be played with the WardCo version of the rules or
easily adapted to other RPG systems (like DCC RPG, for instance!).

Before I go, it bears mentioning that the deluxe collector’s
edition is being produced under a license that allows a single printing of the book. Once this run is gone, so is the
deluxe version. Those who don’t get aboard the Kickstarter now will have to
rely on the secondary markets—where it will command an extravagant price—to obtain
a copy.

Hopefully, my ramblings have piqued your interest enough to
back the Kickstarter, but if not, there are other ways to get involved with the
original science-fiction RPG. Consider checking out one or more of the
following METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA forums for more information about the game and to
meet like-minded mutants:

Who's to Blame

Despite having never been a professional adventurer, Michael Curtis has nonetheless deciphered cryptic writings, handled ancient maps and texts, ridden both a camel and an elephant, fallen off a mountain, participated in a mystical rite, and discovered the resting places of lost treasures. He can be contacted at poleandrope @ gmaildotcom